New incintive for Texas students

[Lawman]

to use good mannars.

 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5947050.html

[smiller]

I made a bet with myself how long it would take for that story to get posted here. I was off by two days.

[Lawman]

I made a bet with myself how long it would take for that story to get posted here. I was off by two days.

 

I've been really busy lately.

[yabadabapal]

Thats one of the wackiest things Ive heard, allowing teachers to carry handguns. If teachers had been allowed to carry handguns when I was in school, I don't think Id be here today. I guess with teachers packing, and 2.5 million children on attention deficit disorder medication,everything's under control for about the next 5 minutes. Thanks for sharing that story Billy, and yes I think its an important one.

[Huzband]

'bout friggin' time!

[Francois_Dumas]

I just KNEW that story would show up here the moment I read it on the news

[Quinn]

I just KNEW that story would show up here the moment I read it on the news

 

 

The story made the news in Europe?

 

 

[bmweerman]

It is about G__D__m time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

:clap

 

Thanks for making my day!!!!!!

[tallman]

No wackier than the office calling over the radio " Code Red " and after turning out the lights having students go on silence, I take up my position next to the locked outside ingress door with my radio and my meter stick.

I'd feel a lot better w/something that had an effective range of more than a meter.

Strange, the schools are supposed to teach everything, and I do mean everything, from sex education/parenting to vocational skills. Yet, we don't want (those who wish to) them to be in a position to prevent a Virgina Tech style tragedy?

I have a Resource Officer literally in my class area, and three other expert marksmen on the staff who are located in a triangle with great coverage from their windows.

Appropriate signage would warn any miscreants that they would be severely punished for misdeeds.

Access?

No problem.

It's called a holster.

Using technology to limit firing of weapon based on biometric feedback would solve any "take away" issues.

I had an ancestor who taught.

She was given the room in the back of the school house to live in, an axe to chop wood, and a revolver.

She provided everything else for instruction and the families food to school for her with their children.

 

Some food for thought.

Students are not the only victims of crime at school. Teachers are also targets of violence and theft in schools. In addition to the personal toll that violence may take on teachers, those who worry about their Safety may have difficulty teaching and may leave the profession altogether (Elliott, Hamburg, and Williams 1998). Information on the number of crimes against teachers at school can help show the extent of the problem. Estimates of teacher victimization are drawn from the National Crime Victimization Survey, which obtains information about the occupation of survey respondents. These events are not limited to offenses committed by students; offenses committed by others against teachers at school are also included.

1. Over the 5-year period from 1997 to 2001, teachers were the victims of approximately 1.3 million nonfatal crimes at school, including 817,000 thefts and 473,000 violent crimes (rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault)(table 9.1). Among the violent crimes against teachers during this 5-year period, there were about 48,000 serious violent crimes (accounting for 10 percent of the violent crimes), including rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault. On average, these figures translate into a rate of 21 violent crimes per 1,000 teachers, and 2 serious violent crimes per 1,000 teachers annually.4

During the 5-year period, the annual rate of violent victimization for teachers varied according to their sex and their instructional level (figure 9.1 and table 9.1). Over the 5- year period from 1997 to 2001, male teachers were more likely than female teachers to be victims of violent crimes (39 vs. 16 crimes per 1,000 teachers). Also, senior high school and middle/junior high school teachers were more likely than elementary school teachers to be victims of violent crimes (31 and 33 vs. 12 violent crimes per 1,000 teachers, respectively).

 

The percentage of students in grades 9-12 who have been threatened or injured with a weapon on school property fluctuated between 1993 and 2003, but without a clear trend (1. Indicator 4). In all survey years from 1993 to 2003, 7-9 percent of students reported being threatened or injured with a weapon such as a gun, knife, or club on school property in the preceding 12 months.

 

Schools are not what they used to be.

 

[russell_bynum]

Well said, Tim.

 

It's time we stopped making it so easy for the bad guys.

[yabadabapal]

Tim and Russell, I dont know you guys well,so forgive me for asking, are you practicing a comedy routine together or are you serious and if so whats your proposal.

What an incentive this would be for kids in schools who have nothing to loose, to challenge their teachers, which they might otherwise not do if they didn't have knowledge that their teachers were carrying guns. This is a preemptive strategy that begs for an escalation beyond the solution it was trying to resolve in the first place. (remind you of anything) Yes I agree we have a problem but lets address the problem and fix it. Instead of finding a solution with potentially greater consequences, lets do the work that hasn't been done in the first place and then fix the problem with sustainable and social benefits.

[bmweerman]

Teachers are also targets of violence and theft in schools. In addition to the personal toll that violence may take on teachers, those who worry about their Safety may have difficulty teaching and may leave the profession altogether (Elliott, Hamburg, and Williams 1998). Information on the number of crimes against teachers at school can help show the extent of the problem. Estimates of teacher victimization are drawn from the National Crime Victimization Survey, which obtains information about the occupation of survey respondents. These events are not limited to offenses committed by students; offenses committed by others against teachers at school are also included.

 

I WAS assaulted in my classroom and I DID leave the profession. Those are not just mere statistics!!!

 

I could write a a 100 page rant on this topic, but I won't.

Thanks for bringing this important topic up though.

 

Cameron

[russell_bynum]

Tim and Russell, I dont know you guys well,so forgive me for asking, are you practicing a comedy routine together or are you serious and if so whats your proposal.

What an incentive this would be for kids in schools who have nothing to loose, to challenge their teachers, which they might otherwise not do if they didn't have knowledge that their teachers were carrying guns. This is a preemptive strategy that begs for an escalation beyond the solution it was trying to resolve in the first place. (remind you of anything) Yes I agree we have a problem but lets address the problem and fix it. Instead of finding a solution with potentially greater consequences, lets do the work that hasn't been done in the first place and then fix the problem with sustainable and social benefits.

 

Why do you suppose deranged maniacs always seem to choose schools, churches, etc to go on shooting sprees? Why not do it at a shooting range or a police station?

 

Answer: They're crazy, not stupid. These people want easy victims and its about time we stopped creating easy and convenient places full of defenseless victims.

 

As for this being a red cape to the bulls....If the teachers are doing it right, nobody will know who's carrying and who isn't until lethal force is necessary.

[yabadabapal]

Ok, but thats not a solution to the problem. Thats a mode of terminating the effect that is resulting as a means of not dealing with the problem in the first place. I for one would never send a child to a school where I knew teachers had guns in the class room.

In this particular school in Texas, it was voted in on the premise that they were 30 minutes away from any immediate LE Response team and therefor needed to have some capability of handling extreme matters on their own. Plausible, but for other institutions to now refer to this approved measure as a means of attaining the same rights, a cascading and explosive series of events in the schools that approve this measure are inevitable, and most likely will occur in schools that have never had a shooting before. I cant debate your points because even though I don't agree, they are well thought out. I believe many of the problems we face in education and in other professional venues exist because we are only doing our jobs, and as I Tell everyone who has ever worked with me or for me, doing your job is not good enough. I hope we get better and tougher teachers, schools and certainly better parents, because these people apparently are only doing their job, and thats not good enough.

[Francois_Dumas]

I just KNEW that story would show up here the moment I read it on the news

 

 

The story made the news in Europe?

 

 

Yes..... we have Internet and CNN and stuff nowadays

[bmweerman]

I believe many of the problems we face in education and in other professional venues exist because we are only doing our jobs,

 

You sir, have obviously never been a teacher. I would take great offense to that remark if I were still in the profession.

 

But, oh yeah, I'm not.....(maniacal laughter fades into the distance...).....

[tallman]

Bobby,

I have over 30 years experience in schools. (50= if you include time as a student).

Decades as an administrator, teacher, coach.

I currently work in a Second Chance School.

My mother was disabled by a student in the 1960's. This is not new stuff. Much of what happens in schools in regard to safety never makes it to light of public scrutiny.

If it did, you wouldn't send your kids to a school where teachers didn't carry.

The old argument that you can't do X because Y might happen doesn't cut it.

We can't do X (except in that Texas distrcit), yet Z is happening.

We have shifted a tremendous amount of parental responsibility to the schools since the 1960's.

We provide breakfast in addition to lunch. We are legislated to provide a moral compass, educational and vocational skills, daycare, and citizenship skills.

We are the de facto parents for many of the country's youth.

These are challenges we accept and prepare to meet, even in this era of reduced funding, exit testing, school grades, all in an environment that is wrought with danger for the students and staff.

How many "customers" have brought a gun into your business knowing it was illegal to do so?

How many violent altercations have been in your business today?

How many of your staff members have been threatened, challenged, cursed, all with the knowledge that you could not protect yourself in any way from a physical attack?

This isn't comedy, it is tragedy.

Worrying about a student taking a gun is understandable, but there are ways to limit the /access/use of the weapon throug biometrics.

I am nearly 6'5" and over 200lbs. I have been physically attacked more than once.

I have been threatened by gangs, had death threats left on my answering machine (yes, we have to provide public access, do you?) had my family threatened, had food/drink compromised, vehicle vandalized, and more.

All in the line of duty as an educator.

I've seen teachers send students to the office, student sent home, then the student return w/a gun, go to the teachers room and threaten him.

When the teacher managed to talk the student out in the hallway to protect the class, the student raised his gun, paused 1 second, then killed him, leaving his wife and children without a husband/father, breadwinner.

All captured on video.

Because the student paused 1 second befor shooting, the jury decided it wasn't pre-meditated and he got a lesser consequence.

You talk about sending your kids to school.

Depending on where you live, violence is a greater or lesser part of the environment.

Urban middle high schools have greater issues.

We know where the problems mostly are, but PC won't allow fixes, or in some cases, they can't get people (read armed hall monitors) to do the job.

I wish we all could send our shildren to an ideal educational setting.

But, that isn't the reality of today.

My uncle had a mad parent try to kill him when he left his office in the early 1960's, the guy threw a javelin/spear that barely missed and penetrated the door.

My mother was crippled when she told two students to "break it up", stop fighting.

We arm airline pilots.

In some places mall security guards are armed.

Are clothes more important than the safety of the students in school?

Best wishes for a wonderful day.

[Lawman]

Gun free zones cost lives and serious injuries.

Not every school district can afford to place police officers in every school.

A few well trained and armed staff makes sense.

[bmweerman]

Bobby,

I have over 30 years experience in schools. (50= if you include time as a student).

Decades as an administrator, teacher, coach.

I currently work in a Second Chance School.

My mother was disabled by a student in the 1960's. This is not new stuff. Much of what happens in schools in regard to safety never makes it to light of public scrutiny.

If it did, you wouldn't send your kids to a school where teachers didn't carry.

The old argument that you can't do X because Y might happen doesn't cut it.

We can't do X (except in that Texas distrcit), yet Z is happening.

We have shifted a tremendous amount of parental responsibility to the schools since the 1960's.

We provide breakfast in addition to lunch. We are legislated to provide a moral compass, educational and vocational skills, daycare, and citizenship skills.

We are the de facto parents for many of the country's youth.

These are challenges we accept and prepare to meet, even in this era of reduced funding, exit testing, school grades, all in an environment that is wrought with danger for the students and staff.

How many "customers" have brought a gun into your business knowing it was illegal to do so?

How many violent altercations have been in your business today?

How many of your staff members have been threatened, challenged, cursed, all with the knowledge that you could not protect yourself in any way from a physical attack?

This isn't comedy, it is tragedy.

Worrying about a student taking a gun is understandable, but there are ways to limit the /access/use of the weapon throug biometrics.

I am nearly 6'5" and over 200lbs. I have been physically attacked more than once.

I have been threatened by gangs, had death threats left on my answering machine (yes, we have to provide public access, do you?) had my family threatened, had food/drink compromised, vehicle vandalized, and more.

All in the line of duty as an educator.

I've seen teachers send students to the office, student sent home, then the student return w/a gun, go to the teachers room and threaten him.

When the teacher managed to talk the student out in the hallway to protect the class, the student raised his gun, paused 1 second, then killed him, leaving his wife and children without a husband/father, breadwinner.

All captured on video.

Because the student paused 1 second befor shooting, the jury decided it wasn't pre-meditated and he got a lesser consequence.

You talk about sending your kids to school.

Depending on where you live, violence is a greater or lesser part of the environment.

Urban middle high schools have greater issues.

We know where the problems mostly are, but PC won't allow fixes, or in some cases, they can't get people (read armed hall monitors) to do the job.

I wish we all could send our shildren to an ideal educational setting.

But, that isn't the reality of today.

My uncle had a mad parent try to kill him when he left his office in the early 1960's, the guy threw a javelin/spear that barely missed and penetrated the door.

My mother was crippled when she told two students to "break it up", stop fighting.

We arm airline pilots.

In some places mall security guards are armed.

Are clothes more important than the safety of the students in school?

Best wishes for a wonderful day.

 

I couldn't have said it better myself! And I applaud you for sticking in out in the profession. IMH, but educated, O public education is busted beyond any hope of fixing it. For me, the only answer lies in burning the SOB to the ground and starting over.

 

Side note...Tallman, care to join me at MMI to start retraining for a new career? I hear there are a lot of us "older" folk there doing the same thing.

[yabadabapal]

Tim, Im really sorry about these things that you have encountered. Your reply was upsetting to me. I could feel every word you wrote and I know you were telling the truth.

Forgetting all the verbal swaggering back and forth, I'm proud of you for doing what you do. I'm a firm advocate in community service , whether as a teacher, a police officer, and or any of the other hundreds of service functionalities. I am writing a recommendation to be proposed as a bill for consideration that offers that every student who graduates from high school, spend one year in community service, red cross, doctors without borders, peace corp, etc. And after completion they are given certain tax, tuition, and placement benefits towards college or other funtions. The resulting outcome is in hope that after seeing a bit of the world, students might have a better idea of what they really want to do and contribute, as opposed to just going to college to get a degree and make as much money as possible.

Thanks for your kind and deeply felt reply

[Shaman97]

IMH, but educated, O public education is busted beyond any hope of fixing it. For me, the only answer lies in burning the SOB to the ground and starting over.

 

Man, you've got that right. It needs to be conducted more like a business, with expectations and consequences for all concerned.

 

Start with an 8-5 schedule, no homwework, and only two weeks off per school year. We can go from there.

 

Good luck getting anything past the teachers' union, though. At least here in California. Try to change anything, and they'll respond with multi-million dollar ad campaigns all in the 'best interest of the children'. Yeah, right!!

[AdventurePoser]

to use good mannars.

 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5947050.html

 

I am absolutely appalled, and speechless.

 

Steve in So Cal

[bmweerman]

to use good mannars.

 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5947050.html

 

I am absolutely appalled, and speechless.

 

Steve in So Cal

 

Which only goes go further prove my point.

[Whip]

to use good mannars.

 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5947050.html

 

I am absolutely appalled, and speechless.

 

Steve in So Cal

 

 

From what you said about your new students you may change your mind.

 

Just sayin

 

 

Whip

 

 

[casticus]

People wonder why I carry any/all the time I am out and about...

 

There are "wolves" in this world and I have the training and legal authority to carry "anywhere" because of my profession. I choose to be a "sheep dog" and not a "sheep"...

 

If you come into any "gun free zone" (that keeps "civilians" from carrying) and I am there I guarantee you that you are not the only armed person there.

[Lawman]

People wonder why I carry any/all the time I am out and about...

 

There are "wolves" in this world and I have the training and legal authority to carry "anywhere" because of my profession. I choose to be a "sheep dog" and not a "sheep"...

 

If you come into any "gun free zone" (that keeps "civilians" from carrying) and I am there I guarantee you that you are not the only armed person there.

 

On Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs

(From the book, On Combat, by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman)

 

“Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always, even death itself.

The question remains: What is worth defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living for?”

 

- William J. Bennett

In a lecture to the United States Naval Academy

November 24, 1997

 

One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me: “Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident.” This is true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another.

 

Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans, which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year. Furthermore, since many violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably less than two million.

 

Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation: We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep.

 

I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me it is like the pretty, blue robin’s egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful. For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators.

“Then there are the wolves,” the old war veteran said, “and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy.” Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.

 

“Then there are sheepdogs,” he went on, “and I’m a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf.” Or, as a sign in one California law enforcement agency put it, “We intimidate those who intimidate others.”

 

If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen: a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath–a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? Then you are a sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero’s path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.

 

The gift of aggression

 

“What goes on around you… compares little with what goes on inside you.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Everyone has been given a gift in life. Some people have a gift for science and some have a flair for art. And warriors have been given the gift of aggression. They would no more misuse this gift than a doctor would misuse his healing arts, but they yearn for the opportunity to use their gift to help others. These people, the ones who have been blessed with the gift of aggression and a love for others, are our sheepdogs. These are our warriors.

 

One career police officer wrote to me about this after attending one of my Bulletproof Mind training sessions:

 

“I want to say thank you for finally shedding some light on why it is that I can do what I do. I always knew why I did it. I love my [citizens], even the bad ones, and had a talent that I could return to my community. I just couldn’t put my finger on why I could wade through the chaos, the gore, the sadness, if given a chance try to make it all better, and walk right out the other side.”

 

Let me expand on this old soldier’s excellent model of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial; that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids’ schools. But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid’s school. Our children are dozens of times more likely to be killed, and thousands of times more likely to be seriously injured, by school violence than by school fires, but the sheep’s only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their children is just too hard, so they choose the path of denial.

 

The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, cannot and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheepdog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.

 

Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn’t tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, “Baa.”

 

Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog. As Kipling said in his poem about “Tommy” the British soldier:

 

While it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, fall be’ind,”

But it’s “Please to walk in front, sir,” when there’s trouble in the wind,

There’s trouble in the wind, my boys, there’s trouble in the wind,

O it’s “Please to walk in front, sir,” when there’s trouble in the wind.

 

The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door. Look at what happened after September 11, 2001, when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Remember how many times you heard the word hero?

 

Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they move to the sound of the guns when needed right along with the young ones.

 

Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, “Thank God I wasn’t on one of those planes.” The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, “Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference.” When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested yourself into warriorhood, you want to be there. You want to be able to make a difference.

 

While there is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, he does have one real advantage. Only one. He is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population.

 

There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory acts of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body language: slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself.

 

However, when there were cues given by potential victims that indicated they would not go easily, the cons said that they would walk away. If the cons sensed that the target was a “counter-predator,” that is, a sheepdog, they would leave him alone unless there was no other choice but to engage.

 

One police officer told me that he rode a commuter train to work each day. One day, as was his usual, he was standing in the crowded car, dressed in blue jeans, T-shirt and jacket, holding onto a pole and reading a paperback. At one of the stops, two street toughs boarded, shouting and cursing and doing every obnoxious thing possible to intimidate the other riders. The officer continued to read his book, though he kept a watchful eye on the two punks as they strolled along the aisle making comments to female passengers, and banging shoulders with men as they passed.

 

As they approached the officer, he lowered his novel and made eye contact with them. “You got a problem, man?” one of the IQ-challenged punks asked. “You think you’re tough, or somethin’?” the other asked, obviously offended that this one was not shirking away from them.

 

“As a matter of fact, I am tough,” the officer said, calmly and with a steady gaze.

 

The two looked at him for a long moment, and then without saying a word, turned and moved back down the aisle to continue their taunting of the other passengers, the sheep.

 

Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I’m proud to say that more and more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs.

 

Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd dropped his phone and uttered the words, “Let’s roll,” which authorities believe was a signal to the other passengers to confront the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred among the passengers–athletes, business people and parents–from sheep to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.

 

“Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after that?”

 

“here is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men.”

- Edmund Burke

Reflections on the Revolution in France

 

Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep, real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are wolves. They didn’t have a choice. But you are not a critter. As a human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision.

If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay, but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust or love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior’s path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.

 

For example, many officers carry their weapons in church. They are well concealed in ankle holsters, shoulder holsters or inside-the-belt holsters tucked into the small of their backs. Anytime you go to some form of religious service, there is a very good chance that a police officer in your congregation is carrying. You will never know if there is such an individual in your place of worship, until the wolf appears to slaughter you and your loved ones.

 

I was training a group of police officers in Texas, and during the break, one officer asked his friend if he carried his weapon in church. The other cop replied, “I will never be caught without my gun in church.” I asked why he felt so strongly about this, and he told me about a police officer he knew who was at a church massacre in Ft. Worth, Texas, in 1999. In that incident, a mentally deranged individual came into the church and opened fire, gunning down 14 people. He said that officer believed he could have saved every life that day if he had been carrying his gun. His own son was shot, and all he could do was throw himself on the boy’s body and wait to die. That cop looked me in the eye and said, “Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after that?”

 

Some individuals would be horrified if they knew this police officer was carrying a weapon in church. They might call him paranoid and would probably scorn him. Yet these same individuals would be enraged and would call for “heads to roll” if they found out that the airbags in their cars were defective, or that the fire extinguisher and fire sprinklers in their kids’ school did not work. They can accept the fact that fires and traffic accidents can happen and that there must be safeguards against them. Their only response to the wolf, though, is denial, and all too often their response to the sheepdog is scorn and disdain. But the sheepdog quietly asks himself, “Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself if your loved ones were attacked and killed, and you had to stand there helplessly because you were unprepared for that day?”

 

The warrior must cleanse denial from his thinking. Coach Bob Lindsey, a renowned law enforcement trainer, says that warriors must practice “when/then” thinking, not “if/when.” Instead of saying,“If it happens then I will take action,” the warrior says, “When it happens then I will be ready.”

 

It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are psychologically destroyed by combat because their only defense is denial, which is counterproductive and destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and horror when the wolf shows up.

 

Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth when you are not physically prepared: You didn’t bring your gun; you didn’t train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy. Denial kills you a second time because even if you do physically survive, you are psychologically shattered by fear, helplessness, horror and shame at your moment of truth.

 

Chuck Yeager, the famous test pilot and first man to fly faster than the speed of sound, says that he knew he could die. There was no denial for him. He did not allow himself the luxury of denial. This acceptance of reality can cause fear, but it is a healthy, controlled fear that will keep you alive:

 

“I was always afraid of dying. Always. It was my fear that made me learn everything I could about my airplane and my emergency equipment, and kept me flying respectful of my machine and always alert in the cockpit.”

- Brigadier General Chuck Yeager

Yeager, An Autobiography

 

Gavin de Becker puts it like this in Fear Less, his superb post-9/11 book, which should be required reading for anyone trying to come to terms with our current world situation:

 

“..denial can be seductive, but it has an insidious side effect. For all the peace of mind deniers think they get by saying it isn’t so, the fall they take when faced with new violence is all the more unsettling. Denial is a save-now-pay-later scheme, a contract written entirely in small print, for in the long run, the denying person knows the truth on some level.”

 

And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of his life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes.

 

If you are a warrior who is legally authorized to carry a weapon and you step outside without that weapon, then you become a sheep, pretending that the bad man will not come today. No one can be “on” 24/7 for a lifetime. Everyone needs down time. But if you are authorized to carry a weapon, and you walk outside without it, just take a deep breath, and say this to yourself… “Baa.”

 

This business of being a sheep or a sheepdog is not a yes-no dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-grass sheep and on the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on one end or the other. Most of us live somewhere in between. Since 9-11 almost everyone in America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors, and the warriors started taking their job more seriously. The degree to which you move up that continuum, away from sheephood and denial, is the degree to which you and your loved ones will survive, physically and psychologically at your moment of truth.

 

 

[Fugu]

Liviu Librescu would no doubt approve of this news if he were still alive..

 

And perhaps had this been the case in Virginia, he still would be.

 

 

 

 

 

[g_frey]

It is amazing how often things that would add to a teachers workload get turned down and "I are one" as they say. I have never, in 28 years, heard a contract negotiation about improving education, just money, money, money. Plus, too often a school administrator is a failed teacher. Often they were a poor teacher because they did not work at it. So you end up with lazy administrators who don't really understand teaching well running a school where good teachers are often rewarded by do more work for the same pay as the 3:00 clock watcher teacher. Don't bother to reply to deny all this, it has been amply demonstrated time and time again in my 28 years plus of teaching. You know who some of the worst teachers are? The eductation faculty in our colleges and universities! They specialize in taking an obviouse premise and blowing it into a full blown course that does not seem to help the working teacher. Of course it does teach the patience to put up with total BullShit on a fairly continual basis so I guess it really is appropriate for people going into education.

 

By the way I volunteer 25% more time than scheduled in all of my classes as well as teach 1 to 3 classes a year for free. For this I am criticized by the slackers on an annual basis as violating the sacred "contract". Unsurprizingly I rarely listen to their complaints due to a near total lack of respect for the complainers (for which I am also criticized). Oh Lord I have gone overboard again.

[Shaman97]

For this I am criticized by the slackers on an annual basis as violating the sacred "contract". Unsurprizingly I rarely listen to their complaints due to a near total lack of respect for the complainers (for which I am also criticized). Oh Lord I have gone overboard again.

 

I don't think you have.

I think there are quite a few good apples in the teaching business (that's what it is - a business), but no more than in any other business that I am in contact with. Quite a few bad ones too, but due to the tenure situation, you cannot get a bad tenured teacher out of the classroom quickly.

 

A big concern is how the teachers' union has invested millions upon millions of dollars into radio and TV ads under the guise of various legislation affecting the children in our schools. A favorite quote of theirs is to "not balance the budget on the backs of our children" - meaning there would be a reduction in school funding. Guess what - in California, ALL public funding has been cut back due to a lack of income for the State. Everyone (schools included) are among those that will, and should feel the cuts. The teachers will lose jobs as a result, but their union will not put this fact forward, because it doesn't have the same visceral reaction as the 'children's backs' argument has.

 

I'll take it a step further - I don't think teachers are underpaid - they're paid exactly what the market forces say they should be paid, even when there is no 'market' for competitive purposes. I guess if they're paid too well it'll be reflected in the type of pistol he/she packs into the lunchroom.

 

I've tried to keep this apolitical, but may have strayed a bit foul of the line. My apologies for that.

[casticus]

Amen brother...heard him speak many years ago and have read his books.

 

They aren't putting on my tombstone that he died because he wasn't wearing a helmet or because he left his sidearm at home.

[Mike]

Folks--Thanks for expressing your views (again). I'll close this one and shall anxiously await the next gun thread.